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PURSUE by the numbers

478 documents in 7 releases, 12,389 transcribed pages. Data as of the latest release on 2026-10-23. Every figure below has its own link and downloads as a PNG — free to cite with a link to this page. The numbers come from the open PURSUE dataset. For individual incidents, see the cases; for which files explain what was seen and which leave it unresolved, see what the files conclude.

Documents per release

war.gov metadata

Release 1 is the largest, with 158 documents. Of all 478 files, 298 are PDFs, 150 videos and 30 images.

  • PDF
  • Video
  • Image
  1. 158
  2. 64
  3. 72
  4. 40
  5. 41
  6. 75
  7. 28

Each release is a batch published on war.gov/UFO. Browse the releases.

Releasing agency

war.gov metadata

The Department of War released 303 of the 478 documents (63%). 11 releasing agencies appear in war.gov's index in total.

  • PDF
  • Video
  • Image
  1. Department of War303
  2. FBI99
  3. NASA25
  4. CIA23
  5. Department of State9
  6. Local Law Enforcement8
  7. Department of Energy5
  8. Executive Office of the President2
  9. U.S. Government2
  10. Intelligence Community Agency1
  11. Office of the Director of National Intelligence1

When the incidents happened

war.gov metadata

War.gov's incident date gives a year for 404 of the 478 documents. The busiest decade is the 2020s, with 211 documents; the oldest incidents date from the 1940s.

  1. 13
  2. 44
  3. 34
  4. 16
  5. 2
  6. 7
  7. 19
  8. 58
  9. 211

The year is read from war.gov's incident date, which is free text (“7/21/61”, “Late 2025”). Documents without a readable year are left out.

Evidence and witnesses

AI analysis

158 documents rest on sensor data alone, with no human witness; 193 involve at least one human witness. Witness testimony is the most common kind of evidence (244 documents), followed by infrared video (195).

Kind of evidence

  1. Witness testimony244
  2. Infrared video195
  3. Photos74
  4. Visual observation57
  5. Radar27
  6. Multiple sensors11
  7. Physical samples7

Who or what observed it

  1. Sensor only158
  2. Not stated117
  3. Multiple witnesses71
  4. Single witness68
  5. Human + sensor54
  6. Unknown10

A document can list several kinds of evidence. “Not stated” means the analysis found no witness information; the PNG shows the evidence chart.

Classification and redaction

AI analysis

56 documents carry a SECRET or TOP SECRET stamp; 32 of them are moderately or heavily redacted. 295 have no readable classification marking.

ClassificationNoneLightModerateHeavyTotal
TOP SECRET42006
SECRET10824850
CONFIDENTIAL1282022
RESTRICTED11002
UNCLASSIFIED633090102
Other marking10001
No readable marking188463625295

Classification is read from the stamp on each document and grouped by level (SECRET//NOFORN counts as SECRET; FOUO and UCNI as UNCLASSIFIED). “No readable marking” means no stamp was found on the file.

Redacted pages by agency

Transcripts

Of 12,389 transcribed pages, 699 (6%) contain redacted text. Among agencies with at least 100 pages, the Department of War redacted the largest share (8% of its pages) and NASA the smallest (<1%).

  1. Department of War8% · 483 of 6,379 pages
  2. CIA6% · 51 of 831 pages
  3. U.S. Government5% · 8 of 158 pages
  4. FBI4% · 127 of 2,872 pages
  5. NASA<1% · 19 of 2,063 pages

A page counts when any text on it is marked [REDACTED] in our transcription; agencies with fewer than 100 transcribed pages are left out. Search the transcripts.

Why text was withheld

Transcripts

The most common FOIA exemption is (b)(6), personal privacy: it is stamped on 196 pages in 48 documents. Among classification categories, 1.4(a) (military plans, weapons systems or operations) appears on 224 pages.

FOIA exemptions

  1. (b)(6) Personal privacy196 pages · 48 docs
  2. (b)(1) Classified national security information62 pages · 11 docs
  3. (b)(3) Information another statute exempts from release43 pages · 27 docs
  4. (b)(2) Internal agency rules and practices5 pages · 2 docs
  5. (b)(4) Trade secrets and confidential business information5 pages · 1 doc
  6. (b)(7)(D) Law enforcement: confidential sources5 pages · 3 docs
  7. (b)(5) Internal deliberations and privileged communications1 page · 1 doc

Classification categories (EO 13526 §1.4)

  1. 1.4(a) Military plans, weapons systems or operations224 pages · 42 docs
  2. 1.4(g) Vulnerabilities or capabilities of systems, installations or plans65 pages · 25 docs
  3. 1.4(c) Intelligence activities, sources or methods, or cryptology14 pages · 7 docs
  4. 1.4(e) Scientific, technological or economic matters of national security1 page · 1 doc

Codes stamped next to redactions, read from our machine transcript and counted once per page: FOIA exemptions (5 U.S.C. 552(b)) and classification categories of Executive Order 13526, §1.4. A page often carries both, and a misread stamp is possible. Each document page lists its own codes under “Withheld under”.

Significance score

AI analysis

284 of 478 scored documents score 4 or 5; 18 score 8 or more.

  1. 2
  2. 10
  3. 44
  4. 56
  5. 169
  6. 115
  7. 45
  8. 19
  9. 14
  10. 4
  11. 0

The score rates a document's historical or intelligence significance — not whether anything anomalous happened. Each document page lists the limits of its evidence. The highest-scored files: landmark records.

News coverage per release

Our news feed

Release 1 drew 51 news articles in our feed, the most of any release; Release 5 drew 7. 133 articles in total.

  1. Release 151
  2. Release 228
  3. Release 311
  4. Release 416
  5. Release 57
  6. Release 610
  7. Release 710

Articles from the outlets in our daily feed, matched to the release they cover. Not a count of all coverage worldwide.